By IDEA definition, deafness means a hearing impairment so
severe that a child is impaired in processing linguistic information through
hearing, with or without amplification, that it adversely affects a child’s educational
performance.

When a child shows any signs of hearing loss, parents should
take immediate steps to have that child examined.Since most communication skills are developed
before the age of 3, it is imperative that parents have their children examined
at the first sign of hearing loss and begin a program to counteract that
loss.Early recognition of hearing
problems is so important, most states require hospitals to test babies for
hearing loss before they ever leave the hospital.

If deafness or hearing loss is not detected at birth,
parents and teachers need to be aware of the signs of hearing loss or
deafness.Deafness or hearing loss may
be present if a child:

1.Does not respond consistently to sounds,
especially his or her own name.

2.Asks for things to be repeated or often says
“huh?”

3.Is delayed in developing speech or has speech
that is unclear.

4.Turns up the volume on the TV and other
electronic devices.

Again, since speech is tied to hearing, it is vitally
important that a child be diagnosed with a hearing loss as soon as possible and
appropriate measures taken.

At least 50% of all deafness is genetic.That is why most states require testing
within hours of birth.Other causes of
hearing loss at birth may be certain infections during pregnancy and
complications during pregnancy.If a
child has no hearing problems at birth, they still may develop a problem as a
result of such things as:a buildup of
fluid behind the eardrum, ear infections, childhood diseases, and head
trauma.Hearing loss can also be a
characteristic of other disabilities such as Usher, Down, Crouzon, Treacher
Collins, or Alport syndromes.

Once again, regardless of the cause, early detention and
intervention are imperative since deafness and hearing loss are so closely tied
to the development of communications skills.

The latest government statistics showed slightly more than
70,000 students qualified for special education services under the category of
hearing impairment.That is slightly
more than 1% of all special education students in the United States.

Fortunately for both parents and teachers an abundance of
help is available if a child is suspected of having hearing problems.The Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA) provides for free evaluation of any child suspected of having a
hearing problem.If the child is less
than 3 years old, states are mandated to provide services.Over 3, parents should contact their local
public school district for screening and special education services.

Deafness is a disability that can impact the remainder of a
child’s life whether it is present at birth or develops later.Parents and teachers need to be alert for any
sign that a hearing disability is present.

Monday, July 23, 2012

The team at Achievement Products asked our consultant, Occupational Therapist Scott Russo, to provide some activity suggestions for incorporating some of our favorite items into daily classroom activities or curriculum.

Scott has provided some really great and creative ways to use items (that may have been originally designed for typically developing children), in special needs environments.

Today we will look at the Joey Jump.

Introduction:

The
Joey
Jump is an intoxicating tool designed for the development of whole body
integration.The Joey Jump can be used
with an individual child to teach body awareness and motor planning, eye-hand
coordination skills, visual tracking, and bilateral integration skills. When
used in a group, teamwork and social skills can also be integrated into the
activity. The Joey Jump includes two spots for beanbag placement providing for
natural gradation of the activity from easy to harder. Most importantly,
children are drawn instinctively to this product.

Activity Ideas:

·Count the catches. See how many consecutive
catches the child can achieve. If you have more than one child, you can have
individual competitions to see who can catch the most, since not much room is
required for use. Multiple Joey Jumps can be set up in a small area for
competitions.

·Monitor the height. In order to teach body awareness, instruct the
child to hit the Joey Jump with the same amount of force each time to see if
the beanbag can fly at the same height each time.

·Challenge the child to stomp with his/her right
foot and catch with his/her left hand and vice versa to teach skills such as
bilateral integration and crossing the midline.

·Have a therapist or teacher stomp on the Joey
Jump to change the height of the beanbag flight and challenge the eye-hand and
visual tracking skills of the child.

·Work in groups. With two children, one can stomp
and one can catch. With more than two children, take turns on who catches, or
challenge them by calling out a name while the beanbag is in the air to
challenge their listening skills as well as their motor reactions.

·Do team relay races. Put separate Joey Jumps
opposite each other. One child stomps and catches and then has to run the
beanbag to his teammate. That child stomps and catches and runs it back to the
other side. The child must continue the stomp and catch until he/she catches
the beanbag in the air before delivering it to his teammate.

·Challenge with two beanbags. Place both beanbags
on the Joey Jump and see if the child can catch both with one stomp.

Children develop many skills in their early lives.Parents often worry that their children are
not turning their heads quickly enough, crawling at the proper time, or
beginning to speak at a certain age.While many of the time parents’ concerns are overblown, it is good for
parents to regularly check their child’s progress and make sure the child is
indeed developing properly.

The development of each of these skills is often called a
developmental milestone.Two children
born at the same time may develop certain of these skills months apart, but
both should develop the skill within a particular range of time.It’s when these skills are not being
developed properly or within this broad range that parents should begin to take
action.

A parent’s first step should be to take the child to a
pediatrician.Most of us are so tuned in
to using the Internet these days, it is likely that a parent will have already
researched developmental delays and the proper timeframes for children to
develop certain skills before they ever consider going to the expense of taking
the child to a pediatrician.All of that
research is fine, but a competent pediatrician can give a parent certain
assurances.Doctors are very aware that
children do not develop at the same pace, and while some children show slow
steady growth, others have bursts of development which allow them to catch up
with other children.

However, the pediatrician may see true signs of
developmental delay and suggest the parent have the child go through
developmental screening.This evaluation
should be done by a highly trained professional and should show the strength
and weakness of a child in five areas:

1)Physical development

2)Cognitive development

3)Communication development

4)Social or emotional development

5)Adaptive development

The results of this evaluation should be used to determine
if a child needs early intervention services.These services are a very important resource to children who experience
developmental delays.These services may
include assistive technology, hearing services, language services, counseling
and training for the family, medical services, nursing services, occupational
therapy, physical therapy, and/or psychological services.

States have an obligation to help children experiencing
developmental delays.The Child Find
system operated by each state can assist with screenings and evaluations.These are usually performed free of charge.A pediatrician typically makes the referral
to the state’s Child Find system.

Once a child reaches the age of three, the local public school
system has the responsibility to evaluate a child with signs of developmental
delays and to provide services to children who are determined to actually have
developmental delays.This
responsibility is defined in IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act.

Again, parents with children under three should contact
their pediatrician for a referral to the state’s Child Find system for
evaluations and services.If their
children are three or older, those parents should contact the local public
education authorities for evaluation and services.

It is not uncommon for parents to worry about their children
not crawling, walking, or talking when they feel they should.If, however, a child is not developing within
certain broad guidelines easily found on multiple sites on the Internet,
parents should get their children to a pediatrician to begin the evaluation
process to truly determine whether a child has developmental delays and needs
special services to remedy those delays.

Description:Giving on a national basis; giving
internationally if agency is recognized by the United Nations to provide
support primarily for the education, service, and care of disabled and special
needs children, and pre-school programs. No grants to individuals.

Program Areas: Community Involvement/Volunteerism, Early
Childhood, General Education, Health/PE, Math, Reading, Science/Environment,
Social Studies

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The team at Achievement Products asked our consultant,
Occupational Therapist Scott Russo, to provide some activity suggestions for
incorporating some of our favorite items into daily classroom activities or
curriculum.

Scott has provided some really great and creative ways to
use items (that may have been originally designed for typically developing
children), in special needs environments.

Today we will look at the Moon Launch.

Introduction:

The Moon
Launch is a large cushion filled with foam and covered with a waterproof,
easy-to-clean, pliable nylon cover. It is a perfect tool for either individual
or group sensory activities. The use of individual foam blocks as a filler
means the Moon Launch will surround the child providing an excellent source of
proprioceptive feedback while also providing an uneven surface for the
provision of vestibular input.

Activity ideas:

·Use it as a crash pillow. For the child with an
excess amount of energy, set the Moon Launch up in a safe place and have the
child jump and land on it or put it as the final destination for a scooter
board path where the child crashes into the Moon Launch.

·Use for balance and vestibular input. Have the
child walk on, lie down and barrel roll, bear-crawl, crab walk, or summersault
on the Moon Launch. It provides a safe landing for classroom, home or clinic
"gymnastics."

·Use as part of an obstacle course. Using any of
the motor challenges above makes the Moon Launch a perfect piece of an obstacle
course. Other motor challenges can include crawling or "snaking"
under the Moon Launch. This will provide proprioceptive input combined with
vestibular input for a more powerful sensory experience.

·Use as a safe sensory place for breaks. The Moon
Launch can be used for a child to sit on or lie on quietly to escape a
challenging sensory environment. Used in this way, the Moon Launch will provide
a good amount of proprioceptive input for a calming effect. It can also be used
as part of quiet room with other sensory products such as bubble
tubes, mood
lights, music,
etc.

·Use as a "nap time" tool for the child
with sensory challenges. The foam cushionin the
Moon Launch will wrap the child in comfort and pressure to help encourage sleeping.

Over the next several weeks I’m going to discuss a number of
disabilities.The first I want to discuss
is emotional disturbance.Remember, any
handicap must adversely affect a
student’s educational performance before it is considered a disability
under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).Children could have a mild emotional
disturbance but still function well in the standard classroom.Those children would not have a recognized
disability.

Children who do have emotional disabilities that affect
their educational performance fall into five categories.They have:

1)An inability to learn that cannot be explained
by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

2)An inability to build or maintain satisfactory
interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

3)Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings
under normal circumstances.

4)A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or
depression

5)A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears
associated with personal or school problems.

This term includes schizophrenia, but does not include
students who are simply socially maladjusted unless they have additional
characteristics of emotional disturbance.

Many more male students are identified as having an
emotional disturbance than girls.This
is probably due to teachers making most of the referrals.Boys tend to exhibit outward, disruptive
behavior when they have an emotional disturbance while girls tend to
internalize and exhibit more anxiety and depression.

It is recommended that teachers and parents follow some
guidelines when dealing with emotionally disturbed children.

1)Choose your battles.Ignore the small stuff that does not truly
disrupt the environment.

2)You may think children are misbehaving
deliberately when in reality the behavior is beyond their control.Try to figure out what triggers bad behavior
and change the circumstances if possible.

3)Teachers and parents need behavior charts.This will help detect trends and triggers and
can also help you positively reinforce proper behavior.

4)All students have some strengths.Use them to motivate students and to help
them have experiences with success.

5)Keep lines of communication open between home
and school.It is imperative that the
two be consistent in dealing with an emotionally disturbed child.

While it is almost always difficult for teachers and parents
to deal with students who are emotionally disturbed, can you imagine what it’s like
for each of these children?What if
people looked at you funny?What if you
didn’t have friends?What if you said
inappropriate things at inappropriate times?What if you were depressed and simply didn’t care what was going on
around you or so anxious that you felt paralyzed much of the time?

Being emotionally disturbed is certainly no fun.Just remember that as hard as it may be,
these children need the uncompromising love and support of their teachers and
their families.Do your part.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Grant Info:

Grant Name:Citi
Foundation Grants

Funded by:Citi Foundation

Description:Giving on a national and international
basis, with emphasis on areas of company operations to support organizations
involved with education, health, employment, housing, disaster relief,
financial counseling, human services, community development, and economically
disadvantaged people. The foundation utilizes an invitation only process;
unsolicited proposals are not accepted.

Program Areas:Arts, At-Risk/Character, Community
Involvement/Volunteerism, Disabilities, Early Childhood, General Education,
Health/PE, Math, Reading, Science/Environment, Social Studies